After Japanese drug giant Takeda agreed a firm deal worth £46 billion ($62.5 billion) for Shire, shares in the Irish pharmaceutical company jumped 4.5 percent to £44.02 on the FTSE 100.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.2 percent to 12,924.23 points and the Paris CAC 40 lost 0.2 percent to 5,523.91.